Data in the News is part of TeachingWithData.org, a portal of teaching and learning resources for infusing quantitative literacy into the social science curriculum in both K-12 and Post-Secondary settings.
Here, we highlight current events and news articles and the data they reference.

Minorities Gain Traction in the Workplace

According to a July 2017 article
by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of minority-owned businesses has
increased. “The Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs [has provided] a timely, demographic portrait of the
nation’s employer businesses by gender, ethnicity, race and veteran status.”

According
to the data, minority-owned firms increased by nearly 5% between 2014 and 2015.
Non-minorities saw a smaller increase on the order of approximately 1%. Female
business owners are taking the lead over male while nonveterans are outpacing
veterans, as well. More specifically, ownership of firms by females increased
by 3% from 2014 – bringing the total number of businesses owned by women up to
1.1 million in 2015.

They report, “Firms owned by
women of color – their numbers have more than doubled since 2007, increasing by
126%. In fact, there are nearly 2.8 million more firms owned by women of color
now than in 2007, among an overall increase of 3.5 million in the number of
women-owned firms.”

In short, the business world
seems to be experiencing significant change in regard to its demographic
composure; although it is difficult to determine if these trends will continue.